(Credit: Przemek Klos/Adobe Stock)

For the first time ever, the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an enforcement action against a computer-security executive over his role in a cybersecurity breach.

In a move that sent shockwaves through corporate America, the SEC on Monday sued SolarWinds and Chief Information Security Officer Tim Brown in federal court in Manhattan, alleging that in the months leading up to a colossal 2019 hack they "concealed both the company's poor cybersecurity practices and its heightened—and increasing—cybersecurity risks."